Page 2 of Coerced Queen

ChapterTwo

Anya

Idrift in a blue sky with little black soundless birds that float near the clouds.The trees with their branches weighed down with snow are visible far below, but the cold doesn’t reach into the picture.There’s no smell or sensation, only the hum of static noise.

I admire the portrait.

How pretty.

Beautiful.

The word pulls at my mind, conjuring a memory.

I sit in a car, staring at the face of a man.

A beautiful man.

We get out of the car and step into the painting with the blue sky and the black birds.A bell tower rises into the air, its shadow falling askew over the ground.Something about the image stirs my heart into a gallop.

I will myself to remember.

This is important.

I fight the blue and the black, struggling through the sky and the birds to reach that handsome man and the memory that evade me.Swiping at the silk threads that trap me like a butterfly in a cocoon, I push harder.

A sound breaks through—a beep—and then a steady series of beeps like the beat of a heart.

A man’s heart beats under my ear where my cheek is pressed on his hard chest.Gauzy curtains lift in the breeze.A big hand draws soft patterns over my back.I’m stretched out on top of him, his naked skin warm against mine and his broad torso a pillow for my head.Intertwining my fingers, I rest my chin on my hands and gaze into the bluest of blues, a color like heaven and tears.He reaches out and twists a lock of my hair around his finger with a smile that heats me like the sun.

Golden flames wink from the shadows.The light turns bright orange and white.The scene changes as color explodes around us.

I lie beneath him while he frames my face between his hands.

“You’re going to be an amazing mother.”

Blood.

Red splotches on a white wedding dress.

“Remember what I told you about the money and the key in the safe.”

Flames.

And then it all comes rushing back.

“No!”

I jackknife into a sitting position, gasping at the pain that slices through my lower body.

My baby.

I cup my flat stomach.

“My baby!”

“Anya, calm down.”Hands grip my shoulders, pushing me flat.“You’re all right.Your baby is fine.”

I focus on the voice.It’s familiar.

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